


dear fellow traveller

by tinypi



Series: allegiances have formed your destiny [2]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, destiny au, more pre-freewood than anything really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 10:05:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3406625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinypi/pseuds/tinypi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do you know a lot of things about guardians?”</p><p>“Well,” Ryan’s eyes brightened in amusement as his own ghost materialized next to his head, “let’s start with the shortcut I know to get to the tower.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	dear fellow traveller

**Author's Note:**

> For a good month now, [Beren](http://foxesonstilts.tumblr.com) and I have been working on expanding a fuckton of headcanons, ideas, designs and more for a Destiny AU that crept up onto us after the Crota Raid Let's Play and these are the first results. We hope that we'll be able to add more of our ideas in the future :3
> 
> As for this part, check out the super fucking adorable comic Beren drew for it on [tumblr](http://foxesonstilts.tumblr.com/post/111674418372/a-little-destiny-au-comic-of-gavin-saying-thank) or [ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3405062/chapters/7454366) as well as this amazing line-up for character designs, [which you can also find on her tumblr](http://foxesonstilts.tumblr.com/post/111673581707/the-crew-destiny-au-the-destiny-au-is-now):  
>    
> 
> 
> If you'd like to know more about this verse, leave a comment or check [this helpful tumblr post](http://tinypi.tumblr.com/post/111673733270/allegiances-have-formed-your-destiny-for-a-good)!

Ryan met Gavin on a warm summer evening.

Ryan was on his way back to the tower from some errand or another when he crossed the market square. The stalls on the market place were beginning to close up, most of the owners handing out the few perishable items that were leftover to children and beggars. Right in the middle of the square stood a young awoken, bright green eyes shining out from beneath his tattered and dirty hood, moving around wildly in an attempt to take in every sight at once. His face seemed to be torn between awe, confusion, and wonder, and Ryan immediately felt the need to help him out.

Unfortunately, any attempts not to seem imposing as he approached the boy were waylaid by his own height. As an exo titan, Ryan was taller than most adults and this boy couldn’t be any older than 16, 17 at the most, which made Ryan tower a good foot above him.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked, lying his head slightly askew in a questioning motion.

“I- uh,” the boy stuttered, apparently surprised at being spoken to, “yeah?”

“You know,” Ryan took in the dirty and ripped clothes as the other continued to stare at him with wide eyes, “if you want to get something as well you might wanna hurry up.”

The boy’s brows furrowed in question and Ryan gestured to the few stalls that were still handing out leftovers.

“Oh! Oh, no, no, I’m not here because of that,” he reassured Ryan.

“Ah, sorry, you just seemed a bit lost is all.”

The boy shook his head from side to side. “Not lost at all. It’s just- I haven’t been to the city in forever and there’s so many humans and, well,” he eyed Ryan bashfully, “exo.”

Ryan could understand being overwhelmed by an unfamiliar sight, especially one as frantic as the city, and nodded. “Well, if you know where you’re going I’ll leave you to it then.” With a last look at the young awoken, he turned to continue on his way to the tower.

“Wait!” A hand clasped his upper arm and he turned back around, the boy withdrawing his hand with a sheepish smile. “If we’re going in the same direction, would you mind if we talked a bit? I literally don’t know a single person here so maybe I could know you and then you would know me and- so, uh, hi. I’m Gavin.”

The rambling was abruptly cut off with a little wave and Ryan found a clanging amusement rising in his chest as hopeful green eyes stared up at him.

“Sure, why not. I’m Ryan.” A brilliant smile was directed at him as Gavin swept the hood of his cloak off of his head to reveal very messy, sand brown hair. With a pang of concern Ryan noticed the marks of exhaustion on Gavin’s light blue skin along with a bruise high on his cheekbone, but he decided to let it go for now. “Where are you headed then, Gavin?”

“Oh right.” With an easy hand motion, a ghost materialized above Gavin’s left shoulder. “I’m headed towards the tower.”

Ryan’s mouth hung open for a few seconds until he found the right words. “You’re… very young for a guardian.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I’m 16.” Gavin puffed out his chest, then deflated immediately when Ryan poked a finger into his stomach. “Why, is that young for a guardian? Do you know a lot of things about guardians?”

“Well,” Ryan’s eyes brightened in amusement and his own ghost materialized next to his head, “let’s start with the shortcut I know to get to the tower.”

 

\----

 

"Ryan...," Geoff started before breaking off, fingers tapping against the table they were sitting at in agitation as he tried to gather his thoughts.

After bringing Gavin to the Speaker for the usual introduction as soon as they arrived at the tower, Ryan had quickly made his way to the team's quarters to search out Geoff.

"Geoff, he's _16_. You should see him, he's thin as a twig, if I- if we let him go out there on his own, he'll be killed on his first mission," Ryan protested.

"I know you want to protect him, Ryan, but if he's just getting started, the missions we go on really won't help with that. Fuck, he'll be more likely to get someone else killed along with him. Besides, if he's that young maybe he won't want to join up with a team anyway, maybe he's got family he'd rather stay with. Did you ask how his ghost found him?"

"No," Ryan admitted, shaking his head, "but he seemed very determined and he mentioned not having been to the city in a while. From the look of his clothes... I don't think he's got anybody to return to." He stared into Geoff's eyes, which lit up in amusement.

"Fucking bleeding heart robot, aren't you?" Ryan whirred softly, his cooling system kicking it up a notch, and Geoff gave him an unimpressed look.

"Look Geoff," Ryan said, arms spread in a placating manner, "I'm not proposing that we bring him along on team missions. Just let him join up for now and let me help him get started. I'll go on the first few missions with him, maybe with Jack or someone else, help him figure out things around the tower and which class he could go for and then we can see where things go from there. Please? All I want is to make sure that the whole guardian programme won't get a kid killed because a ghost couldn't determine if he was actually ready for any of this."

He sat back in his chair, having made his case, and waited for Geoff's answer.

"Fine," the other exo caved, after a good minute of staring at Ryan, "you better make damn sure he survives this crap though."

"Thanks," Ryan jumped up, relief bubbling in his chest as he clapped a hand onto Geoff's shoulder, "I'll get his room assigned to our quarters then."

"Yeah, yeah, just make sure you're here for dinner in half an hour so the rest of the team can meet wonderboy."

Ryan waved over his shoulder to signal that he had understood and made his way back to the tower's main platform to look for Gavin. He found him standing near the postmaster, awe written across his face as he looked after two awoken that had smiled and waved at him as they passed by.

"Ryan!" He smiled up at the approaching exo.

"Hey to you too," he replied. "Everything good?"

"Yeah, yeah, just not used to... this," Gavin trailed off.

"What, other awoken?" Ryan frowned, looking between Gavin and the couple that were making their way towards the hangar.

"No, just friendly ones. The reef isn't exactly the happiest of places," he shrugged.

"Doesn't seem to slow you down," Ryan remarked and Gavin grinned.

"Well, I'm from here originally, but I moved when- when I was younger." Ryan decided to let the obvious slip-up in the middle of Gavin's reply go. If the other didn't feel like telling him, he definitely didn't want to push the issue.

"I'm glad to have you back here, then." Gavin blushed and looked up at Ryan with thankful eyes. "Anyway, while you were talking to the Speaker, I took care of a few things for you."

He motioned for a curious Gavin to follow him as he started their way back to the guardian's living quarters.

"You should know that a lot of guardians choose to team up instead of going out on missions on their own. Most of those alliances are temporary, but some stay together even outside of missions, in which case we get team quarters assigned to us," Ryan began to explain.

"I'm guessing you're already on a team then?" Gavin asked disappointedly.

"Yeah." He turned around to see Gavin's face fall a bit and hastily laid a reassuring hand on the other's shoulder. "And I just talked to our team leader and you're welcome to join us if you want."

"Yes, please!" Gavin immediately shouted. "Bloody hell, for a second you had me worried I would have to figure all of this out by myself," he admitted with a relieved laugh.

"I figured you'd take me up on the offer," he patted his shoulder before continuing on their way, "so I took the liberty of having your room assigned to our quarters."

Gavin snorted out a laugh as he followed Ryan. "What's your team like, then?"

"Well, there's currently six of us, seven once you join up. I should warn you that our leader, Geoff, might take a bit to warm up to you. He's... been around for a really long time and gets wary of getting close to mortal people sometimes. He'll come around though, the exact same thing happened with Jack, Lindsay and Michael, who are all human."

Gavin nodded along, counting the people Ryan mentioned on his hand as they walked down the hallway that held quarters for bigger groups. "So the sixth member is also...?"

"An exo, yeah. Ray joined about six months ago. He's not quite as loud and boisterous as Michael and Lindsay can be, but Geoff says he's one of the best fighters he's ever seen, so that’s saying something." With a wave over the panel off to the right side, the door to the team’s quarters opened and Ryan almost walked directly into Jack.

“Ryan! Geoff just told us you recruited another stray? Where’s he at then?” Jack asked.

With a small cough, Gavin stepped out from behind Ryan, eyebrows raised in amusement.

“I’m Gavin, the new stray,” he laughed and Jack shook the offered hand with a soft smile.

“I’m Jack, hi. We’re about to have dinner, so the team’s all gathered. It’ll be nice to have more people who actually eat, at any rate,” he said as he glanced at Ryan, who lifted a shoulder in a helpless shrug.

They ushered Gavin into the room, Jack depositing the awoken’s backpack onto a couch as Gavin approached the others with a wave and a smile.

“You’re the new guy?” Michael said, walking up in his under-armour. Gavin nodded tentatively. “What the fuck, Ryan? That's a goddamn kid.”

“Ugh, ignore Michael, he’s just being a dick. I’m Lindsay,” the young woman introduced herself, joining them, “and you’re adorable.”

“Thanks?” Gavin laughed and turned to look at the person next to her. His eyes widened in awe and the exo drew back slightly. “Oh, you look really cool!”

“...thanks, I guess. I’m Ray.” Given the absence of any distinct facial features in his panelled faceplate, it was hard to tell what Ray was thinking, but the hand he extended for Gavin to shake was a good indication that he wasn’t put off by the odd introduction.

"Sorry," Gavin smiled sheepishly as he shook the exo's hand, "haven't seen any exo for years."

"Really?" Lindsay frowned. "How come?"

"I've lived at the reef most of my life. I guess it's not exactly a popular vacationing spot," Gavin shrugged.

"Yeah," Michael squinted at him, "I heard awoken from the reef are all arrogant dickheads." He made a small _oof_ sound as Lindsay elbowed him in the side, but didn't stop his wary scrutiny of Gavin.

Gavin grinned. "That's absolutely true. The journey here was mental, but I'd rather do that a few times over than go back there."

That got Michael to cave a little and he finally allowed himself a smirk. A large hand landed on Gavin's shoulder from behind him and he turned around to find a tall exo lazily taking him in, unreadable grey eyes shining through his visor as he focused in on the bruise on Gavin’s face and the badly ripped and dirtied parts of his attire before turning to look at Ryan. 

"Thin as a twig alright, but that's nothing we can't fix." He turned back to Gavin and was met with bright green eyes staring determinedly up at him. "Gavin, right?" A nod. "Ryan can take you to get outfitted and equipped then, seeing as he's oh so eager to help you out. You should go for some basic weapon training before you go on your first mission as well. Any idea what class you're going for yet?"

"Uuh..." Gavin's eyes flitted to the side to look at Ryan, confusion obvious on his face.

"Fuck, you really are stupidly young, aren’t you?" The exo shook his head, then stepped back to walk towards the seat at the head of a large table.

"Oh yeah, you can call me Geoff." He turned around and spread his arms in what appeared to be both a greeting and a sarcastic gesture. "Welcome to the crew."

 

\----

  
Even after just a short time of watching the different members on the team train and training with them, Gavin had already learned a frankly alarming amount about weapons and armour and classes and guardians in general.

He had learned that the titan class was not just about having a large body mass and throwing oneself into a fight with brute force, but about knowing how to channel that strength to deal out exact and forceful strikes rather than burning one’s power out in a rampage. Though Ryan and Jack were excellent fighters and a perfect fit for the class, Gavin thought that the best example of this principle was Michael, because he used his abilities so strategically.

Out of his armour, Michael wasn’t much to look at in terms of body mass, but his motions during training were exact and packed with a force that you wouldn’t expect unless you had witnessed it before. Augmented by his heavy suit of hydraulic body-armour, he became a powerhouse on level with the other two titans.

It usually fell to the titans of a group to absorb the brunt of their enemies’ attacks, though, and everybody agreed that Gavin wouldn’t fit into that role very well.

Lindsay, and on rare occasions Geoff, had explained the rudiments of the warlock class to Gavin. Warlocks were required to have immense focus and a constant oversight of the fights they engaged in, as their abilities allowed them to support their entire group with area-control spells. They also stepped in where necessary to use their energy for a strong offensive attack whenever the others were under threat of being overpowered.

When confronted with the issue of Gavin’s choice of class, Ryan and Lindsay had agreed almost immediately that Gavin would likely be best-suited for a position as a hunter and, as the only hunter in the group, Ray had put aside an afternoon to explain what distinguished him from the others. Hunters, Gavin had learned, relied more on quick strikes that dealt a lot of damage by hitting vulnerable spots rather than putting large amounts of force into their hits. They tended to stay out of direct firefights and would either help from a distance or move quickly through the fray and deal fast damage with short-ranged weapons and melee attacks.

After this introduction, Gavin rather agreed with Ryan and Lindsay’s assessment. Much as he would have liked to, he felt that he didn’t quite have the strength needed to stand his ground against large groups of enemies as titans did, and he definitely lacked the concentration necessary to be a warlock.

His class settled, the team focused his training on sniper rifles, hand cannons and knives, and started him on a regular sparring schedule to improve his reaction time and stamina. Ryan had taken him around the tower to introduce him to the hunter vanguard and get him his initial set of armour and equipment so he would be able to train with his own weapons and get used to the new clothes. In a fight, things like being able to reload your weapon quickly or knowing how to move efficiently in your armour could make the difference between life and death.

After about a month of training and fighting and enduring Michael’s smirks after he’d thrown Gavin down during a one-on-one, Geoff deemed him about as ready as he could be for his first mission, so Ryan, having volunteered to come along, helped him pick an easy one.

Nervous despite everything, Gavin spent the night before the mission walking in and out of his room to pace around the team’s quarters, only to slink back to bed every time he was met with the unmoved stares of either Geoff, Ryan or Ray. Eventually, he managed a restless sleep.

 

\----

 

“Woah!” Gavin shouted, jumping to the side as Ryan summoned his sparrow, eyeing Gavin slyly as he took in his reaction. “Ry, what’s this?”

“Sparrow. S-22 Cavalier, to be exact. So we don’t have to walk across endless wastelands on missions,” he explained as he sat on the vehicle, Gavin readily jumping on behind him and wrapping his arms around Ryan’s waist. With both of their armours on, Gavin’s arms couldn’t even encircle Ryan completely, but he still felt Gavin’s arms digging into his sides as the sparrow picked up speed.

Their mission was a simple scouting assignment on the outskirts of the city. Apparently a group of dreg and vandals, curiously without a captain leading them, had meandered unusually close to the city’s walls and Gavin and Ryan were to check if they were just dumb or if they were planning anything. With any luck, they wouldn’t even have to fight.

As soon as the group of fallen showed up on their radar, Ryan stopped the sparrow and they climbed off to sneak up an outcropping of rocks. In the distance they could see a few dreg and vandals standing near a heap of wrecked and rusted cars. Gavin retrieved the sniper rifle from his back and used the sight to get a closer look at the creatures.

“I think they’re just… trying to salvage things from those cars?”

“So they’re just stupid,” Ryan concluded. “There’s no way anything in there is still usable.”

“I guess,” Gavin shrugged and turned towards the exo lying next to him. “So what now?”

“I’m gonna get a closer look, make sure they’re really not up to anything. Wait here, Gav.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Gavin huffed and stuck his tongue out at Ryan.

He settled in to wait for the exo, watching as he carefully made his way towards the group and using his sniper to check for any other enemies in the area.

“Don’t get too close, Ry,” he mumbled into his comm. “Can’t see behind that rock wall that’s right by you.”

“My radar should pick up on anything behind there, don’t worry.”

“Oh, right,” Gavin shook his head, “I keep forgetting about the thing.” He laughed and threw a look at his own radar. Gavin’s heart rate skyrocketed as he noticed three red dots directly behind him and he swiftly rolled to the side just as two shots hit the spot he’d been lying in a second ago.

“Shit! Ry!” Gavin shouted into his comm, abandoning the impractical rifle on the ground to draw his hand cannon and take out the vandal that had shot at him. He jumped up just as the first vandal fell to the ground and another darted towards Gavin.

Next to him, a dreg wielding a shock dagger appeared and Gavin awkwardly pulled out his knife with his left hand to block the attack, trying to keep the vandal away with his hand cannon at the same time. He managed to fend off three slashes, but then the dreg twisted his blade upwards suddenly and Gavin felt the skin across his cheekbone tear as the knife sliced across it.

He jumped back immediately, throwing his own knife and watching it bury itself in the dreg’s throat. The creature crumpled to the floor with a loud gurgle and Gavin turned to aim at the last vandal just as he took a shot at the awoken with his shock rifle. He twisted to the side, but the blast hit his right hand and with a loud grunt he dropped his own weapon, fingers seizing and burning with pain.

The vandal snarled angrily and went to aim at Gavin again just as a loud shotgun blast blew away the creature’s head. Ryan’s eyes blazed with fury as he watched the vandal slump to the ground. He lowered his shotgun and immediately darted towards Gavin, hastily patting the young awoken down for any injuries. Gavin stopped him with his left hand, then pulled off the glove covering his right hand with a hiss of pain. The light blue of his fingers had turned an angry purple and a few parts of his skin were burned.

“Shit, that doesn’t look too good,” Ryan said as he took Gavin’s wrist in his hand to inspect the burned digits.

“It’s fine,” Gavin mumbled, carefully moving each of his fingers, “just smarts a bit.”

“We should look into getting you gloves that are more than just a layer of cloth.” Ryan let go of Gavin’s wrist to put a hand to his cheek, softly wiping away the thin line of blood that had dripped from the cut across his cheekbone. “And a helmet, apparently.”

Gavin smiled and Ryan, reassured that the awoken was mostly okay, moved towards his sparrow. “Let’s get back then. Jack can patch you up, he does it for Michael all the time.”

“Hey, Ry?” Gavin asked as he picked up his various weapons. “I did okay though, right?”

Ryan looked at the dead creatures and nodded. “Yeah, kid. You did good.”

 

\----

 

“You shouldn’t feel bad for forgetting about the radar, Gav,” Jack said as he spread a cool, white salve across Gavin’s hand. “You’re new to this, it used to happen to me, too. At least you reacted in time as soon as you noticed.”

Gavin nodded hesitantly. The cut on his cheek had already been cleaned and was now being held together by a small butterfly bandage that Jack had placed there with the utmost care.

“Still, I feel like I could’ve done better,” he admitted softly.

Jack waved him off, turning to rummage through a nearly empty crate. He retrieved a small packet of bandages and started carefully wrapping Gavin’s fingers in the white gauze.

“Trust me, for a rookie that wasn’t even used to fighting with weapons before you were brought in, you did very well. I’ve seen people go out on their first missions and come back… much worse.” His nose scrunched up just thinking about it.

Gavin hummed in thought, watching Ryan through the partly opened door to the common room as Jack finished wrapping his hand and secured the bandage with a small metal clip.

“Right.” Jack clapped a hand on Gavin’s shoulder as he stood up. “Don’t get it wet, don’t strain it too much, and it should be fine in a week or so. You’ll have to change bandages a couple of times in between, just come to me about it.”

“Thanks,” Gavin smiled up at him.

“No problem, Gavin.” He turned to close the box that held his medical supplies.

“Hey, Jack?” He looked over his shoulder at the awoken, who looked at the crate with a small smile. “Would you mind if I borrowed this for a bit?”

“Uh, sure. Just get it back to me when you’re done,” Jack shrugged.

“Will do!” Gavin replied, already halfway out of the room with the box cradled in his arms.

Ryan was standing at the large bay windows, his back to Gavin as he looked out over the city, seemingly lost in thought.

“Ry!” Gavin said happily and walked to stand in front of the exo as Ryan looked at him with his head askew, curious as to what the other was up to.

Gavin dropped the crate in front of Ryan’s feet and proceeded to jump onto it. Looking straight ahead, he was now about the same height as Ryan.

Gavin gave him a wide grin before leaning forward to press a kiss to Ryan’s cheek, effectively freezing the exo in place as a low whirring started up in his torso.

“Thanks for the save out there.” He swooped in to hug Ryan. After a moment’s hesitation, the exo moved to return the gesture, pressing Gavin against him carefully.

“Yeah, of course. Always,” he replied as the awoken moved back, grinning bashfully.

 


End file.
